Recently, I've been toying with this idea of selling 'FrankenBenz' and get something cheaper to maintain especially on petrol bills!!! (I've not driven 'FrankenBenz' for more than two weeks now as I've send the 'ECU' for repair... took more than a week for them to sort it out - will blog more about this later... in fact I just got my car back tonight)... But after getting so used to 'FrankenBenz' power and torque, ordinary car will not suffice... So what other car that have the ability to thrill and go gentle with the petrol??? I'm thinking about high revving naturally aspirated (NA) car of course... Before driving a turbocharged car, I used to believe that it will save fuel when you're not boosting it... I'm so very wrong (this does not apply to puny continental turbocharged engine)!!!

So 'NA' is the way to go... But what kind of 'NA' engine??? Rotary is definitely out of the question as it drinks fuel like you drink cold beer during a sunny day!!! Continental engine is out of the question as well as famous potent 'NA' engine are either too BIG in capacity or too expensive for me... So left the usual  three 'Japanese' so to speak... My criteria is very simple this time... 2.0 liter is the max for me... 'Nissan' have the SR20 Neo VVL engine that packs a punch but their car is a bit boring expect the hard hitting 'GTR' and 'Skyline' of the past... 'Toyota' have a very nice engine and it wins me over with it's amazing technology... 5 valves per cylinder coupled with individual throttle body (ITB)!!! Presenting the famous 4AGE 20V engine!!! The only downside to this engine is the capacity which is only 1.6 liter!!! So left 'Honda' which is really famous for it's high revving 'VTEC' engines... From the humle B16A --> B16B --> B18C --> B20B till the mighty K20A, you will definitely find an engine that suit your needs and budget... For me, I'm inching more towards the newest K20A engine which came with 220hp standard coupled with a 6 speed manual gearbox!!! Plonk the engine in a humble 'Civic' and you got yourself a giant slaying car!!! Yummy!!!

'Nissan SR20 Neo VVL'...

The very famous 'Toyota 4AGE 20V' aka 'Blacktop'...

The almighty 'Honda K20A'... But still...

NOT as mighty as this!!! 'Toyota 1JZ-GTE' which is also the heart of 'FrankenBenz'!!!

Like I mention earlier, I just got my 'FrankenBenz' back less than one hour ago and the moment I step on the accelerator, all my previous thoughts are gone!!! What 'NA' or 'VTEC'??? 6 cylinder and a pair of turbochargers are the way to go!!! The power delivery is super smooth and addictive!!! I just can't get enough of it... Will continue boosting tomorrow!!! Will update the status on the 'ECU' repair in my next blog post... Besides, I manage to get rid of the bell tinkering sound too!!! Till then and happy boosting!!!

To be continue...

'Swee Sian' is very famous for it's 'assam fish' in my hometown... They used to serve really good 'assam fish' and I can vouch for that!!! But sadly they decided to close the business down when the boss which is also the cook passed away due to dengue fever... We were all saddened!!! 

Fast forward a few years, the wife decided to start the business all over again!!! When we knew about this, you can bet that we were among the very first to try it out... They don't serve fancy dishes... Just some very normal one and not forgetting limited in variety as well... For me, one dish is enough if it is really good... No point having a table full of dishes when the taste is nothing to shout about...

 The very famous 'assam fish'... Look the same but sadly it doesn't taste as good as it used to be... 

'Otak-otak' that is very famous in 'Muar'... But 'Batu Pahat' serve really good 'otak-otak' as well... Definitely much nicer compare to those in 'Kuala Lumpur'!!!

 Another famous dish of theirs!!!

Although the 'assam fish' is not as good as it used to be, we still can't get enough of it!!! To me, it will always be the BEST!!!

Overall Rating - 4/5

Sorry no address as I didn't managed to get it... Will update once I get hold of it...

I'm really lost for words on this one... Don't really know how to blog about it and where should I start... What I can say is the cast is pretty awesome albeit a bit on the old side and the storyline is as interesting as a washing machine!!! In short you only need to know that these guy just won't die no matter what the enemy did to them... They can be shot at, bomb at and whatever shit you can think of and they won't even get a scratch... And when they fire back at the opponent, all they need is one bloody bullet or a puny little knife!!! 

I can only categorize this movie as extremely old school... 'Rambo' anyone??? Times have change unfortunately and we demand more than pointless shooting and killing... In the 80's yes, this can be accepted and even applauded but fast forward 30 years, we demand more than this... The enormous 'old school' cast is the only reason I can think of that is worth my RM!!! Other than that, none unless you're a psychopath who enjoy watching people shooting at each other!!!

p.s. 'Stallone', Van Damme and 'Arnie' in my humble opinion, please brush up your acting skill!!!  

Some update on our beloved 'Pug'... Two days ago, our 'Pug' is officially out of warranty coverage!!! Isn't it fast that our 'Pug' is already three years old... And it is officially not a virgin anymore when it comes to 'Genting'!!! I drove it up this morning but too bad the condition is not ideal as it was raining cats and dogs... So I tone down my driving a little bit but I'm really impressed at the grip that it produced (tyres play an important role as well)... Really confident with the way it handles... Definitely much more powerful when compared to my ex-daily driver which is none other than my trustee 'Proton Gen2 MME Edition'... Although much more powerful, the thrill or driving it compare to my 'Gen2' is like night and day difference!!! 'Gen2' is so much nicer in terms of handling!!! So what about comparing it to 'FrankenBenz'??? Frankly the 'Pug' feels super slow now!!! The last time I drove 'FrankenBenz' up 'Genting', I'm using only one gear... Gear three all the way up!!! Although much more powerful, I don't find it entertaining as well as 'FrankenBenz' is way too heavy for this kind of driving... 

Since the warranty coverage is over, I must take extra care on our 'Pug' starting from now... And you know what, it decided to give me a heart attack moment this morning when I drove it up 'Genting'... I'm using the tiptronic all the way up changing gears manually... When I was about to reach 'Genting', the gearbox decided to go in neutral but the display says that it was in gear three!!! Step on the accelerator and the car's not moving... Shifted it back to auto and still it won't move until I heard a loud 'clunk' sound (my heart almost stop moving), and 'Pug' was moving again!!! I can't imagine what might happen if I really abuse it this morning... Luckily it was raining and hopefully no damages done to the gearbox!!!

I've been running 'Gummy' custom 'Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)' ROM for a while and it has been great!!! But the urge to move on is really unbearable!!! I've been thinking of upgrading my ROM to the newest 'Jelly Bean' which is of course custom as well (not going to run the official 'Jelly Bean' ROM)!!! The only thing holding me back is the trouble and not forgetting stability of the new ROM...

Don't want my phone to encounter any problem and causes it to malfunction... I've tested 'Jelly Bean' on my friend 'Galaxy SII' and it is superb!!! No lag and buttery smooth... Besides that, there are a few upgrade that are worth upgrading for... Tempting!!! Very tempting... Guess I will put this on hold first till I decide which custom ROM to upgrade to!!! Will do some survey on which is the best Jelly Bean ROM out there now!!! Till then...

Finally managed to get a used good condition rear parcel shelf for 'FrankenBenz'!!! I've been looking high and low for this item ever since I decided to start 'Project FrankenBenz'!!! This is the only part that betrays the age of 'FrankenBenz' and I can't wait to get rid of it...

The first aid compartment is in very good condition... Everything is still intact...

This rear parcel shelf is from a newer model and it is slightly different compare to the one on 'FrankenBenz'...

As you can see from this pic, the speaker cover is in dire state... Notice the different in design??? The new one is definitely better looking!!!

Last time, the mechanic relocate the speaker because the original place can only fit in a 5" speaker while the new one is 6" (better sounding and much easier to source!!!)... This time I insist that the speaker must be in the original place but the magnet can't go through it!!! With some brute force and the help of a plier and hammer, we manage to bend the metal surrounding the speaker area and make the hole just big enough for the magnet to go through... Use some extremely sticky tape and tape the speaker in place... Viola very clean and nice looking rear parcel shelf!!!

To be continue...

OMG I can't believe it as I'm going to all the baby fair that I knew... In fact I just came back from 'IBEX' which stands for 'International Baby Expo' and I'm pretty disappointed with it... No doubt it was much nicer to walk compared to the one in 'Mid Valley' a fortnight ago (Mid Valley one was cramped and all of us looked like packed sardines!!!)... But the problem is, almost all the exhibitionist are the same... So there are nothing much for us to buy...

We were interested in stem cell storing and wanted to have some in-depth understanding hence we approached two of the companies... One of them is 'Cyrocord' and the other is 'Cellsafe'... The most famous one is absent from this fair!!! After hearing both out, both of us are getting really confuse on which to choose... Both have their pros and cons... So we ended up leaving without signing up with either one... Since we still have time, we decided to do more research on this... Whoever have experience on this please feel free to leave some comments!!! 

Okay I admit that after watching 'The Dark Knight Rises', I have no expectation from 'The Amazing Spiderman' because I know how hard it is to better the former (i still can't get over 'The Dark Knight Rises'!!! it is just awesome to the max)... And you know what, that's the correct things to do as 'Spidey' is as predictable as 'RTM1' (you will only know this if you live in 'Malaysia') which is boring all the way... 

If compare apple to apple, this new version of 'Spidey' is in fact much better compare to the older version... The reason for this is simple... More humorous and better looking chicks!!! If they are planning to film 'Spidey 2', lot of works need to be done especially the storyline which is lacking in almost all superheroes movie...

Did I talked about the screeching sound emitting from 'FrankenBenz' in my previous post??? I did talked about the inability for it to rev pass 4000rpm occasionally... Before this happened, 'FrankenBenz' started to have some really strange noise and it only occurred occasionally... So I did not pay much attention to it... Bad idea!!! Really bad idea as I found it the hard way...

I was on my way back from work and I stopped by a petrol station to feed my hungry 'FrankenBenz' (which is always hungry for petrol!!!) and everything went fine until I started my car... I heard a loud 'klong' sound and my voltmeter reading drop from the usual 14.++ to around 11.++... I quickly stopped my car and pop the hood... To my horror, the whole alternator sits on the radiator piping!!!

There, the alternator rest on top of the bottom radiator piping!!! How the hell the alternator managed to drop is beyond me... But after some inspection I found the culprit!!! Culprit for the screeching sound as well as why the alternator managed to come loose... The screeching sound came from the belt turning the waterpump, aircond compressor, crank shaft pulley, alternator as well as power steering... As the alternator came loose, it's position is off and it cause the belt to slip and screech... 

As for why the alternator drop is really simple... The alternator is screw to a bracket from the waterpump and the bracket decided to snap and this cause the alternator to drop... So in order to fix the alternator back, I will first need to replace my waterpump which is still in very good condition!!!

Luckily I was at the petrol station when this happened!!! And I'm really lucky as the petrol station attendant gave me a foreman number (my foreman refuse to come to my aid as I'm too far away and he told me to tow my car back to his workshop!!!) and I got nothing to lose and gave the number a call... After explaining it to him, he said that he was able to help me... Luckily this does not happen a day later as I'm going outstation the very next day!!! 

This foreman have no prior experience with 'Toyota 1JZ-GTE' engine but he have vast experience on 'BMW'... In order to take out the waterpump, basically the whole front part of the engine needs to be dismantle!!! Everything including the radiator up till the cam pulley!!! I don't know what the 'Japanese' is thinking when they designed the '1JZ-GTE' as the amount of work needed to take out the waterpump is mind boggling!!! I really appreciate this foreman that came to my aid as the amount of work needed would definitely put a lot of people off... If I'm the foreman, I will definitely ask it to be tow as this is not a job that can be finish in an hour time... But the foreman is professional enough to finish the task at the side of the petrol station!!! 

It took the foreman more than five hours to finish the job!!! By the time I reach home, it was already 12am in the midnight!!! I'm really grateful for the foreman as he did an excellent job reviving my 'FrankenBenz'!!! Now 'FrankenBenz' is back boosting happily...